Last Chance
by Bellatrix Kale
Summary: Sequel to First Sight. Wonder what would have happened if Penelope hadn't died? AU and character deaths.
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: Swearing, Violence, Some Adult Situations  
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I just use them periodically as minions...**

**A/N: Welcome to Last Chance, the sequel to First Sight! I'm so happy to be able to put this on the site after teasing you all. (Sorry for that.) Don't want to say much. Let your eyes do their thing and find out what this is about!**

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Griffin looked at the lifeless form on the couch. It hurt him to see her like this. She'd been out cold for an hour now without the slightest bit of movement since she passed out on the floor of the lair. He got up and moved to the refrigerator, getting out a bottle of water for himself, looking very grumpy.

"Nya..."

Griffin turned around and saw her looking around nervously. "Penelope?" Her eyes were wide and her breathing was heavy. "Pen?" Griffin said as he walked towards her. He watched as she lightly prodded her stomach with the palm of her hand and then looking at Griffin again. She looked confused and child-like as her eyes locked on him. "You were stabbed. Lucky fer you I patched yeh up, but you'll still need ta go to the doctor." She nodded silently. "Are you gunna talk?" he smirked.

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Penny looked down at her hands as she leaned against the arm of the couch. "They're gone. Both of them..." Her voice was cracked and raspy.

Griffin sat on the edge in the middle of the couch. His mind flashed to seeing her brother's corpse on the floor of the college room. He wasn't sure what to say. "I'm...sorry?" he said, half questioning if he should be saying the words as he watched her. Her eyes slowly moved to him. _She keeps lookin' at me like that and I'm gunna feel bad about all this._ "C'mere already," he sighed as he held out his arms towards her. She crawled, not moving the blanket, to him and curled up in his arms.

"I won't cry Griffin," she said strongly as she held her arms around his waist.

_Thank god for that one,_ Griffin thought, arms across her back and hugging her against his chest. "We'll get Roland. I promise," he said, kissing the top of her head. They just sat like that for what seemed to be forever until Griffin said, "Now how about that doctor?" as he stroked her hair. He heard a slight giggle from her. "Was that a laugh?" She pulled back and smiled weakly with a nod. "Alright then." He let go and wrapped the grey blanket around her before jumping to a hospital.

The hospital was a place Griffin had gone to a while back when he got a slash on the arm from a Paladin. He claimed it was an accident at his job and they treated it without question. A nurse caught a glimpse of them walking into the emergency room. "Oh my!" she gasped, seeing the blood on Penny's shirt. _Shit. Forgot about that,_ Griffin cursed himself for not having her change her shirt before arriving. The nurse took Penny from his arms. "What happened?" Griffin was fuming about the fact that the nurse had just taken her, but he manged to say, "She had an accident." The nurse threw an odd look over her shoulder as she helped Penny to a room.

When they got in the room, the nurse sat Penny on the examination table. "I'll be right back. And my name's Ruth," she smiled, walking back into the hallway.

Griffin stood next to Penny. She glared at him. "What?" he asked defensively.

"I hate doctors. And hospitals," Penny grumbled.

"Get used to it Pen. I'm not exactly a doctor."

Ruth returned with a doctor. She was writing on a clipboard as the doctor looked Penny up and down. "What happened?" he asked when he noticed the blood stains on her shirt.

Penny went to speak, but Griffin cut her off. "We were helpin' out some friends build onto their house and she got a good thwack from a board with a nail in it." The doctor eyed him suspiciously and nodded. Ruth, standing behind him, was writing notes about the story.

The doctor, whose name Griffin saw stitched onto the coat as Dr. Addler, was lifting her shirt to examine the wound. "Are you sure it was a nail? It's pretty deep..."

"Yes it was a nail," Penny protested. "Can you just patch me up and send me on my way?" She sounded, and looked, angry.

Griffin smirked. _Someone really despises doctors._

"I'm sorry miss?..."

"Mrs. O'Conner," Griffin interrupted.

Dr. Addler looked at him curiously before turning back to 'Mrs. O'Conner'. "We'll need to run some tests and make sure you don't have any internal hemorrhaging or problems. It could be a day or two."

Penny frowned with a groan. "Thanks honey," she sarcastically said to Griffin.

Griffin winked at her. "Anytime."


	2. Chapter 2

It took a few hours to do the tests at the hospital. The tests were done in different places and Griffin wasn't allowed to go with, even after he lied and told the doctor that he was her husband. _Pisses me off,_ he thought. _I went through a shitload of Paladins to get her back and ditched killing Roland, too. _He began to wonder about where Roland would be as he got a mountain dew from the vending machine in the waiting room. It opened with a hiss. He returned to the seat he had been occupying for two and a half hours now, sitting and drinking from the cold plastic bottle. He saw Dr. Addler come out from a room behind the counter and talk with a nurse. The doctor looked up and motioned to Griffin to come over. _Finally!_ Griffin sat his drink down and got up, practically running to the counter. "She alrigh', Doc?"

Dr. Addler pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. "Your wife is going to need surgery. Some tissues will have to be repaired and we found she has a very small wound internally. The bleeding isn't bad, but if we don't do anything now it could get worse."

Griffin clenched the bridge of his nose. "How long will it take? Fer the surgery?"

"Should take about twenty five minutes at most, unless we would run into complications. And we could have her in pre-op in ten. Would you like to see her?" he asked, putting his hands into the pockets of the long white lab coat he was wearing.

Griffin bit his upper lip momentarily. "Sure."

"Follow me Mr. O'Conner," he said as he pointed to a door and walked through another. Griffin smirked at the name 'Mr. O'Conner'. It sounded funny and made him sound older. He shook his head as he went through the door Dr. Addler pointed at. Dr. Addler was waiting by the door. "This way," he began down the hall. Griffin followed him quietly. They turned, walking into a regular patient room. It was small, but smelled a lot like antiseptics. Penny was in a bed, wearing a hospital gown instead of her blood stained shirt. "I'll give you two a few minutes," Dr. Addler said before backing out of the room.

Griffin stood next to her. "How're yeh doing, wife?" he said with a smile.

She laughed. "I'm fine, but they seem to think I need surgery," she looked angrily at the door. "I was so tempted to jump outta here..."

"If yeh don't get the surgery, you'll get worse. And jumpin' when you're like this would be a bad idea," he said with a serious tone.

Penny looked at him calmly. "I know. Just get me out of here as soon as you can, 'kay?" she asked him.

He gave a nod and kissed her forehead. "I'll go tell 'im you're ready." He walked to the door.

"Griffin?" he heard her call. He turned around and looked at her, with his classic smirk adorned on his face. She shook her head and said, "Never mind. I'll tell you later." He gave a half wave and walked out to the waiting room again.

Returning to the counter, Dr. Addler was sitting behind a desk next to another doctor. "She's ready," he told him.

"Wonderful! I'll have one of the nurses take her to pre-op and you should see in within half an hour, Mr. O'Conner."

Griffin nodded with a straight face before returning to his drink and familiar seat.

**(An Hour Later)**

Griffin was peeling the label off the empty mountain dew bottle in the same seat of the waiting room. He was beginning to get anxious. _What's taking so long,_ he thought. He knew he was never one to sit around and wait. He had paced the waiting room five times already though and that woman in the corner looked at him weird after his fifth pace so he sat down.

When the half hour mark had passed, Griffin even got paranoid. Thoughts like _What if they told him to do this?_ and _What if he's a Paladin?_ jumped around his head so much he had to leave, walking away from the building to jump indirectly to the lair, to get a pocket knife he could hide in his usual beat up leather jacket he was wearing.

Griffin rubbed at the knife in his pocket as he looked at the clock. When he looked back at the door, Dr. Addler was coming out in blue sanitary scrubs. Griffin pulled his hand out of his pocket and put the empty bottle on the chair as he got up. "How's she?" he asked the doctor.

Dr. Addler pulled off his bandana smiling. "She's perfectly fine. Groggy from the anesethic but she's fine. We found the puncture wound and patched it. She can go home after a day of observation but she'll need bed rest for a few days after that."

Griffin nodded. "Can I, eh...Can I see 'er?"

The doctor nodded. "She's in the same room as before."

"Thanks," Griffin said as he darted through the door to Penny's room. He found Penny resting in the bed once again. _She even looks beautiful now,_ Griffin thought. He pulled up a cushioned chair and planted himself at her bedside. _We'll be outta here in no time, _he thought as he watched her sleep.

And no time it was. The days passed rapidly and Penny was released from the hospital. She had to be on bed rest for a day or two and go to physical therapy in a week, but Griffin took all those things his way. She did couch rest for two days, with Griffin doing odds and ends for her, and physical therapy was very light, very easy training. And Penny didn't protest to any of it. She was just happy to be out of the hospital and away from doctors.

Griffin jumped into the lair, holding a bag of food from the McDonalds he visited in New Jersey. "Food. Eat," he said as he gave the bag to Penny.

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry," she told him, focused on the racing game she was playing on his video game system. He plopped down on the couch next to her after putting the food in the fridge. "Wanna play?" she asked, handing him the controller.

"Nah. Gotta go to work soon." Griffin liked to call Paladin hunting 'work' now, to make it seem like he actually had something to do.

She frowned at him and put the controller on the end table before putting her hand in his. "Skip today," she begged.

"Yeh know I can't. Besides, I think I'm onto somethin'," he said persuasively.

She licked her lips. "Are you avoiding me, Griff?"

He looked at her with confusion. "Why would I do tha' now?" He inched over and kissed a line down her neck.

"Because we haven't done anything lately. Are you afraid you'll hurt me?" she asked, pushing him back lightly. "I won't break, you know," she said, their foreheads touching. "It's been a week."

"I know," he said softly. "I'll make it up to you when I get home, alright?"

She sighed, "Fine."

He pulled her against him and kissed her, trying to reassure her that he would keep his word. He managed to pull himself away and grab his jacket before jumping to the place he would be watching today: Egypt.

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**A/N: I've got one word for you readers: Woot. I'm finishing up the last chapter of this already. It's real short but gives a small plot, just enough to tide yeh over until the sequel to Reckless and my Chumscrubber fan fic. I think this shorty is awesome and you'll like how it ends up. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So I just finished writing this story and I think the ending is so-so. It's kinda happy but kinda not. I dunno. Let me know what you think! And please check out the poll on my profile-the winning character will get a oneshot all about them. (Send in your ideas for the oneshot, too!)**

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Chapter 3

Griffin was running through a sand dune frantically, trying to get away far enough to lose the Paladin that was chasing him. He had done exactly as he planned, but still managed to get seen. _Stupid arse,_ Griffin thought as he jumped, propelling himself forward. As the sun beat down heavily and the two ran through the desert, Griffin looked back to see the man reloading his weapon as he ran. _Fuck._ Griffin jumped behind the Paladin and pushed him hard into the sand. _I did not wanna have to get bloody today._ He pulled a knife out of his pocket as he kicked the man a repeatedly. "Where is he?" he asked in a vicious rumble as he leaned down, holding the knife to the Paladin's throat.

The Paladin squirmed a bit under his grasp. "Gone. You won't get him. He'll get y-"

Griffin slit the man's throat mericlessly. He was tired of playing this game of cat and mouse with Roland through the other Paladins. Griffin stood up, wiping the sand off his jeans and getting a smear of blood on them. He looked at his hand. "Cripes," he moaned. He had some of the man's blood on his hand. "An' I liked these jeans," he grumbled, kicking the bleeding Paladin's corpse before taking hold of it and jumping to a high cliff. He flung the limp body over the cliff and jumped back to the lair. "I'm back!" he called into the living room.

He was taking off his jacket when he heard Penny walk into the room. "How'd it go?" she asked.

"Just swell. I got blood on me good pants," he said while removing his shirt and throwing it on the floor angrily. When he looked up again, Penny was sitting on the end of the bed in a blue strappy nightgown. He raised an eyebrow. "When'd yeh get tha'?"

An innocent smile crept across her face. "I got bored, so I went out." She stood and walked to him. "It's not the only thing I bought," she quietly said running a hand down his chest.

He moved his arms around her waist but remembered the blood on his hands. _Damn it._ "Uh..." he held up his hands, showing her the blood.

Penny grabbed his hands and pulled him towards the enclosed shower he had installed in the lair. "Let's get you cleaned up then," she said pulling off her nightgown and turning the water on. Griffin wasn't going to protest to this. He pulled off his boots and pants as he saw Penny step into the shower in the corner of his eye. Griffin just stood their for a minute in his boxers, admiring her slender, yet muscular figure. He had an ugre to get his sketch book and draw her, but he didn't. "You coming?" she asked, poking her head out from behind the door and dripping water on the ground. He stripped down the rest of the way and joined her, deciding he would draw it from memory later.

_It's official. I fuckin' hate Italy._ Griffin was strapped to a cold metallic table in a dull grey room. He couldn't remember how he got here, but he could remember the last thing he had been doing: tracking a Paladin he thought to be Roland in Italy. _Fucking Roland, _Griffin thought. It had all been a trap, obviously. Griffin cursed himself for not seeing it sooner. _Why would a Paladin ever go out alone?_ Especially Roland since they knew he was after them. Such a simple trail too. He cursed himself silently again.

He heard a door open and shut from somewhere behind him. He was slightly nervous and tried to move his hands as if to defend himself, but had no luck. Griffin looked down, seeing clasps locking, keeping his feet down. Identical ones were holding his wrists. Turning back to facing forward, he saw Roland himself walk in front of him. Griffin's anger rose and he once again tried to move his hands. Roland smirked. "We've finally caught you, O'Conner. After all these years..."

Griffin scoweld. "When yeh gunna kill me? I know you're just itching to."

Roland shook his head. "As much as I would love to, I can't. The snatch was for a reason."

_Snatch? So It was a planned trail._ "Why?"

Roland cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes. "We need to know where the girl is," he said in a low booming voice. His face looked dark and Griffin wanted nothing more than to punch him for talking about Penelope like this. "Now would to like to tell me or do I have to use force?" Roland asked as he walked to the side of where Griffin was. His hand lingered over a button on the wall.

"Fuck off," Griffin spat.

"Fine. Suit yourself," he said pushing the button. Griffin's body spasmed as if he was being electrocuted. _As a matter of fact I am. Damn, I need to jump out of here!_He attempted a jump, but only caused himself more pain. He trembled violently as the electricity pulsed through him.

Roland pushed the button again and the pain stopped. "Would you like to share the location now?"

Griffin twitched once and threw a glance at Roland. "I'll never tell you," he panted. Roland pushed the button again and leaned against the wall casually. "You sick-" Griffin began, but the electric current began moving through him. This time he screamed. _How much of this can I take before I die?_Griffin wondered as his body convulsed. Roland pushed the button sooner than before and repeated the question. "Why?" Griffin managed to ask. "Why do you want her?"

Roland's eyes narrowed. "She could be special to us. We need her. Now tell me where she is! This is your last chance!" His voice grew louder with each word he spoke and made Griffin flinch.

Once again, Griffin wouldn't answer. He shut his eyes and shook his head. _I'll die protecting her if I must._ He felt the electricity again and his body shook and trembled. He heard Roland's voice say something about miserable jumpers before everything around him grew dark and he blacked out.

Griffin rolled onto his side, trying to open his eyes. He remembered being tortured by Roland and from the way his muscles felt, it wasn't a dream. He started to sit up, but felt dizzy when he tried. "Best not to move right away," he heard a voice say. "There's a wall a few inches behind you though. Brace yourself."

Griffin made a groan to let the person know he was listening. He inches back, pulling against what felt to be concrete. "Who," his voice felt rough. "Who are you?" _Must have been out for a while._

He heard a chain rattle. "David. My name's David. And you?" The voice had an American accent Griffin noticed as he began to sit up with his back against the wall. The wall was as cold and hard as the floor was. He cracked open his eyes.

Griffin leaned his head back and forward, setting his now open eyes on a man with short hair. _Blond from the looks of it. _He was wearing a tattered and dirty green jacket with blue jeans. "Griffin," he replied.

The man, who was David, looked him over. "What do they have you in for, Griffin?"

David seemed to be an upbeat guy in his opinion. _Here we are in what looks like a jail cell. Chained down after being tortured half to death and he's smiling? _Griffin smirked. "They're after my girlfriend." Griffin couldn't remember using that exact term with Penny but it seemed to fit.

David frowned. "My girlfriend's dead. They killed her," he said while looking at his black shoes. "Her name was Millie."

Griffin thought he saw a tear drop onto the ground. "I'm sorry for your loss..." he trailed off. He never had been good at apologizing. _Maybe since I've got free time it would be good to start._


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Last chapter guys! Here it is!**

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Chapter 4

Griffin was awoken by loud yelling. It was his fifth day in the cell across from David. It was hell. _No worse. It's a Paladin building._ He was beginning to miss Penelope and, shockingly, civilization. He only had the company of the emotionally scarred, blond haired, blue eyed man named David. The yelling grew louder as he sat up. Griffin saw David doing the same. _Are they finally coming to take one of us away? Maybe kill? _He looked to David, who was straight faced, standing at the bars of his cell and straining to see what was going on. "Wha's it?" he half whispered to David.

David shook his head. Griffin stood up as he heard a woman's voice shouting about someone. Soon footsteps.

Roland and a woman came around the corner and into view. Roland looked furious and stormed over to David's cell. The woman followed close behind, saying things like, "You can't do this" and "This is against orders." She had short brunette hair and was wearing a grey trench coat. She was obviously a Paladin.

Roland stopped in between the two cages. "We have no use for him, Mary. He mustn't be allowed to live." He narrowed his eyes at her and said darkly, "He's a jumper."

Roland began to pull out what seemed to be a handgun as the woman named Mary shouted more at him. "I won't let you kill my son! My people are hidden among us all and will destroy this wretched group from inside!" She stepped in front of Roland, blocking his view to David's cell.

Griffin was in awe. _A Paladin mother with a jumper for a son? Talk about confliction._ He backed up a step as he saw David do the same.

"Mom," he heard David say. But he was too late. A single gunshot rang through the cells. Mary stood with wide eyes. "They'll destroy..." With those last words, Mary crumpled to the ground in a bloody slump. David yelled as if he was the one who was shot and tried to jump. He went nowhere and simply stood in front of Roland, who was cocking the gun again.

"No..." Griffin mumbled. Roland heard him apparently and turned, looking over his shoulder as he pointed the gun at David. Griffin was about to stutter out a few words but Roland was faster.

"Don't worry. You're next O'Conner," Roland had an evil smirk plastered across his face as he spoke.

Griffin shivered as the attention turned back to David. A second gunshot rang across the area as David groaned and stumbled back. He gasped as he fell down, clutching his chest. Griffin took a final look at David, who was grinning at him from the ground. "Kill. That. Bastard."

Griffin clenched his right hand into a fist. He knew it was how Paladins were, but even he wasn't that heartless. "You fucker," he grumbled. His rage was building as Roland threw down the gun and turned towards him. They glared at each other as Roland unrolled a knife from it's sheath. "You're gunna kill me too now?" Griffin asked.

Roland smirked at him again. He yelled, "Open the cell!" The door to Griffin's cell opened and Roland stepped in, taunting with the knife by waving it around. "Today is the day I finally kill you. After I do that, I think I'll find your little girlfriend and kill her too."

Griffin screamed savagely at Roland as he ran towards him and threw a few punches. Roland got hit twice and blocked all the other punches. He retaliated by kicking Griffin in the chest, causing him to fall to the ground. Griffin groaned as he was kicked again. He didn't have the strength to get back up. The torturing did a lot of damage he assumed. Out of instinct, he tried to jump. Nothing happened. He twitched and only moved a foot away from where he was. _Damn it. Is this how I'll die? Fuckin' ridiculous._

Griffin moved to pick himself up but Roland held him down, holding the knife against his neck. He smirked at him, the man who would kill him in a few short moments. "You jumpers are always eager to die," Roland trailed off. His face turned to shock as he toppled onto his side. Griffin saw a knife sticking out of his neck. He rubbed at the spot where the knife had been held against him as he saw Penny standing over him.

"Thought you were a goner, eh?" she smiled at him, trying to look innocent.

Griffin sat up. "Thanks Pen. I think I owe you one."

She held out her hand and pulled him up. "We're even, Griff. You saved me and I saved you."

He looked down at Roland's lifeless body on the ground a few mere inches away from them. Griffin sighed. It was a relief to finally see Roland dead and many lives avenged, but it didn't make Griffin feel any different. He turned back to Penny. She was looking at Mary and David's bodies before turning around to face Griffin. She grabbed his hand and jumped them to the lair. Penny threw herself onto the couch and curled into a ball. _I wonder if she feels any better now that Roland is dead,_ Griffin thought. He took off his ruined shirt as he was about to ask when she spoke.

"Who were they?" she asked quietly.

Griffin put on a clean black shirt and sat down next to her. "The guy. Tha' was David. He was a captive too. An' the woman...I think that was his mother. She was a Paladin," he told her. "She died trying ta protect him. Kinda weird, but...I dunno," he shrugged.

Penny pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around securely, and resting her chin on the top of her knees. "Maybe things can change now. Maybe the Paladins will think about everything. The lives they stole. The chaos they've caused," she trailed off.

Griffin put an arm around her. "Maybe."

Griffin sat at the bar relaxed, with a drink in hand. Penny was sitting next to him, smiling and giggling. He could tell she was buzzed after one drink. He leaned against the counter and smiled back at her. It had been a quiet and peaceful two weeks since the whole ordeal with Roland. Four days after it happened, he ran into a, now ex, Paladin he recognized and they told him what had happened. He remembered his words clearly.

_'Mary and a group of us were on the inside, trying to halt what the Paladins were doing. They had just found out about us the day she died. That's why they killed her Jumper son. To see if she really was with them or against them. The rest of us followed her plan and destroyed the Paladins from the inside by messing their tracking systems and records on all the Jumpers in the world. Just yesterday, a handful of us blew up one of their buildings that the remaining higher ups were having a meeting in. Now, it's only a matter of time until they crumble...'_ He would probably never forget Mary or David for what they gave up in order to give the rest of the Jumpers safety.

Griffin took a sip of his drink and looked at Penny again. She was still smiling away along with tugging on his beaten up leather jacket. _Who really knows how long this peace will last?_ Griffin thought to himself. He got up and helped Penny off her bar stool. _Who cares?_ They were finally allowed to live normal lives and Griffin wasn't going to take his for granted anymore. He draped Penny's arm over his shoulder and assisted her out of the bar and walked into an alley. _Things can change, _he thought as he jumped Penny to their new home in Los Angeles.

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**A/N: Happy how this turned out. And i know it's a tiny bit open, that's incase I get bored and decide to make this a trilogy. David fans: I'm sorry.  
Review(tell me what you think), vote in the poll on my profile(ideas nedded for oneshot), and the sequel to Reckless, along with my Chumscrubber fic, should be out soon!! **


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